Osborne keeps mentioning living standards, but not our record real wage squeeze September 9, 2013 Chancellor George Osborne has mentioned living standards repeatedly (you can watch him here), but he doesn't appear to have mentioned the prolonged real wage squeeze currently gripping the UK. Osborne has attacked the previous Labour government, saying that the fall in living standards is the result of a "failure of economic policy in the last [...]
Labour to vote on state control for Royal Mail September 10, 2013 TRADE unionists yesterday pledged to take the fight against the Royal Mail sell-off to the wire – and said they would call on Labour leader Ed Miliband to commit to renationalising the postal service if he wins the next general election. Dave Ward of the Communications Workers Union told the Trades Union Congress (TUC) his [...]
3 reasons for the achingly slow progress on EU-US free trade deals February 17, 2014 Though a stock-taking meeting for the US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) begins again today, progress is likely to be painfully sluggish. Transpacific talks have gone through 18 rounds already, not including meetings between ministers or chief negotiators. In comparison, the EU and US not yet even the third round of talks, which [...]
Reactions to the chancellor’s statement December 5, 2013 THE BUSINESS GROUPDirector general of the CBIJohn Cridland The CBI had lobbied the government to cap business rates at two per cent and support business finance. “We have always advocated the dual approach of tackling the deficit and driving growth – the OBR forecasts confirm it is working. Let’s stick with what works. “The pressure [...]
The 3 best and worst places to hold Bitcoin February 4, 2014 The debate about how to deal with the virtual currency Bitcoin is still in its infancy, according to a report released by the Law Library of Congress. The report surveys 40 jurisdictions and the European Union on any regulations or statements from central banks and governments on the handling of Bitcoin. Of the countries surveyed [...]
How positive start-up innovation is making full-time work redundant May 3, 2013 ASK a business owner 20 years ago how big their company was and, like the pharaohs, he or she would soon tell you how many people they employed. Full-time staff numbers denoted personal achievement and the business’s (and owner’s) social value. Today, precisely the opposite is true. In volatile markets and desperate to avoid fixed [...]
Boards ring the changes with new bosses January 1, 2013 SEVERAL firms including publisher Pearson and insurance group Aviva are ringing in the new year with a change of chief executive. Mark Wilson officially took the reins at Aviva yesterday, replacing Andrew Moss, who was felled by a shareholder rebellion over bonuses last May. New Zealand-born Wilson, who spent four years at the top of [...]
Over 3m want to extend their working hours November 28, 2012 THERE are over three million workers who are in employment, but wish they worked longer hours, a report for 2012 revealed yesterday. Around a tenth of all workers wanted to work more hours, according to the data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), including just under a quarter of those currently working part-time. This [...]
Workers face nine year wage wait October 3, 2012 Workers face a nine year wait to get back to the level of real income they enjoyed in 2009, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) claimed today. Incomes have fallen sharply over the last three years, the TUC says, meaning that a worker on a median salary of £25,800 in 2009 lost around £1,600 by 2012. [...]
Workers face nine year wage wait October 3, 2012 Workers face a nine year wait to get back to the level of real income they enjoyed in 2009, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) claimed today. Incomes have fallen sharply over the last three years, the TUC says, meaning that a worker on a median salary of £25,800 in 2009 lost around £1,600 by 2012. [...]